Millennium Development Goals

The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were agreed at the United Nations Millennium Summit in September 2000 and nearly 190 countries have signed up to them. The goals are international targets for reducing global poverty.

They aim to lift around 500 million people out of poverty by the year 2015. If this happens, fewer women will die in childbirth, fewer people will die from treatable diseases, many more boys and girls will go to school and the lives of millions of people will improve dramatically.

Several of the MDGs relate specifically to the wellbeing of women and girls: Goal 2 calls for primary education for all girls and boys in the world; Goal 3 seeks to promote gender equality and empower women; and Goal 5 calls for an improvement in maternal health. However, it has become clear that progress on all the other MDGs is directly related to the implementation of women’s rights and gender equality.